12A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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Astoria edges Scappoose in season opener
The Daily Astorian
SCAPPOOSE — The Astoria Fish-
ermen opened the Cowapa League base-
ball season on a winning note Tuesday
night.
Astoria snapped a 1-1 tie with two
runs in the top of the sixth, then added
one in the seventh for a 4-2 victory
at Scappoose.
Fishermen starter Jackson Arnsdorf
gave up just two hits with 10 strikeouts
in fi ve-and-a-third innings, but Asto-
ria stranded 10 base runners before the
Fishermen fi nally pushed across three
runs in their fi nal two at-bats.
Astoria scored fi rst in the second
inning, with Burke Matthews connect-
ing for a run-scoring single.
Scappoose tied the game on Hunter
Holmason’s double in the bottom of
the fourth, and after a scoreless fi fth,
the Fishermen fi nally heated up in the
sixth.
Cade O’Brien singled off Scappoose
pitcher Logan Travis for the go-ahead
run, and Astoria tacked on one more in
the sixth and one in the seventh.
Fridtjof Fremstad pitched the
fi nal one and 2/3 innings, striking out
two.
Jasyn Gohl went 3-for-3 to lead
Astoria’s 10-hit attack off four Scap-
McCann,
Gonzalez
push Astros
past the
Mariners
Ducks
prepare
to open
spring
practice
By KRISTIE RIEKEN
Associated Press
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
Oregon is trying something a
little different for a few practices
this spring: new coach Willie Tag-
gart is welcoming the public.
Oregon will practice in front
of fans at Kilkenny Field on cam-
pus on Friday morning and Satur-
day afternoon, then again at Port-
land’s Jesuit High School on April
15. The Ducks warn however that
inclement weather could force the
open practices to be rescheduled.
Taggart said Tuesday that he
was excited to get started, joking it
was like Christmas time.
“I think we have some awe-
some kids here — I shouldn’t call
them kids, but young men — that
really want to win. And they really
want to do it the right way,” he
said.
Taggart is taking over an Ore-
gon team that fi nished last season
4-8 overall and at the bottom of the
Pac-12 North standings at 2-7 —
snapping a run of nine straight win-
ning seasons in conference play.
Three days after a loss to rival
Oregon State in the fi nal game
of the season, Oregon dismissed
coach Mark Helfrich. Taggart, head
coach at South Florida for the past
four years, was hired in December.
Taggart guided South Florida to
a 10-2 mark last season and a spot
in the Birmingham Bowl. He is the
fi rst coach Oregon has hired from
outside the school since 1976. The
Ducks’ previous three coaches —
Mike Bellotti, Chip Kelly and Hel-
frich — were assistants who were
promoted.
Kelly closed spring practices to
the fans and media in 2012.
This season fans could get a
look at newly arrived freshman
quarterback Braxton Burmeis-
ter, who enrolled in school early
and will compete for the job with
incumbent Justin Herbert, as well
as Travis Jonsen and Terry Wil-
son Jr.
SCOREBOARD
PREP SCHEDULE
TODAY
Baseball — Knappa at Clatskanie,
4:30 p.m.
THURSDAY
Baseball — Scappoose at Astoria, 5
p.m.; Valley Catholic at Seaside, 5 p.m.
Softball — Astoria at Clatskanie, 4:30
p.m.
Track — Astoria at Banks, 3:30 p.m.;
Seaside/Scappoose at Tillamook, 3:30
p.m.; Lewis & Clark League Preview, at
Riverdale, 3:30 p.m.
Boys Golf — Seaside at Astoria, 2
p.m.
Girls Golf — Seaside at Valley Cath-
olic, Noon
FRIDAY
Baseball — Woodland (WA) at Sea-
side, 5 p.m.; Tillamook at Warrenton, 4
p.m.
SATURDAY
Track — Daily Astorian Invitational, at
Seaside, 10 a.m.
Baseball — Warrenton at Monroe (2),
Noon; Knappa at Taft, 2 p.m.
Softball — Knappa at Taft, 2 p.m.
BASEBALL
Astoria 4, Scappoose 2
Astoria
010 002 1—4 10 1
Scappoose 000 101 0—2 2 1
Arnsdorf, Fremstad (6) and Gohl; Tra-
vis, Searle (6), Toman (7), Margheim
(7) and Gill. W: Arnsdorf. L: Travis. S:
Fremstad. RBI: Ast, Matthews, O’Brien,
Englund; Sca, Holmason 2. 2B: Sca,
Holmason. HBP: Ast, Tuimato 2. LOB:
Astoria 10, Scappoose 3.
poose pitchers, who combined for just
three strikeouts, fi ve walks and two hit
batters. Samboy Tuimato returned to his
specialty, drawing two HBP s.
In other Cowapa League sea-
son openers Tuesday, Valley Catho-
lic defeated Seaside 10-1, and Banks
scored a 19-0 win over Tillamook.
Astoria hosts Scappoose for a
single game Thursday at Tapiola Park,
5 p.m.
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) blocks the shot by Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard,
left, during the first half in an NBA basketball game Tuesday in Salt Lake City.
Hayward, Gobert lead Jazz
to 106-87 win over Blazers
By KAREEM COPELAND
Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY —
Smaller, quicker guards have
given the Utah Jazz fi ts in many
instances this season. Tuesday
wasn’t one of them.
Gordon Hayward scored 30
points and Rudy Gobert added
20 points and 11 rebounds to lead
the Jazz to a 106-87 victory over
the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Jazz controlled the game
most of the night with a defen-
sive effort that bottled up every-
one not named C.J. McCollum,
and the Blazers never found a
consistent offensive fl ow.
“We have so much respect for
their guards and our guys know
the urgency it takes to guard
them,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder
said. “So we’re working hard.
At the same time, you have to
be fortunate with those guys. A
lot of shots they missed tonight,
they’re capable of making.
“You kind of knock on wood
a little bit.”
On the other end, Hayward
UP NEXT:
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• Minnesota Timberwolves
(31-46)
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(38-40)
• Thursday, 7:30 p.m. TV: TNT
was an effi cient 12 for 20 from
the fl oor, including 4 for 6 from
behind the arc. Gobert recorded
his 57th double-double and con-
tinued to show his offensive
growth in the pick-and-roll game.
He also had three blocks and con-
stantly altered shots in the paint.
“The way they guarded me
tonight, I was able to get some
looks early,” Hayward said,
“with the big being back and so
there was a lot of space to oper-
ate. That got me going early.
“Rudy did a good job screen-
ing them and freeing me, then I
could attack the big downhill and
kind of have whatever I wanted.
Once you see a couple shots go
in, too, that defi nitely makes you
feel better.”
The Jazz opened the fourth
quarter with a 15-6 stretch to take
a 90-70 lead that put away the
game.
McCollum scored 25 for the
Blazers and Damian Lillard fi n-
ished with 16.
“I didn’t shoot the ball well,”
Lillard said. “Didn’t impact the
game as much as I would have
liked. ... They’re on a string out
there on the defensive end and
they made it tough for us. You
got to give them credit. But I also
felt like I had some looks I should
have made, I usually do make
that I didn’t.
“We’re ready to go home and
fi nish the season out strong and
we know that we control what
happens.”
The Jazz took a 47-41 lead
into halftime after a hot start and
surviving a second-quarter tear
from McCollum.
Utah opened the game with
an 11-0 run and was having its
way with a heavy dose of Gob-
ert and Hayward, but Portland
chipped away. McCollum had 10
second-quarter points on 5-for-8
shooting.
HOUSTON
—
Brian
McCann’s focus this offseason
was fi nding a way to hit more
balls to the opposite fi eld like he
used to earlier in his career.
On Tuesday night against
the Mariners it paid off when
he got his fi rst hit with the Astros
on an opposite fi eld home run
that helped Houston to a 2-1
win.
“A lot of work went into
this offseason with my swing
to be able to do that,” he said.
“Over the last two years I’d just
become a dead pull hitter and I put
a lot of hours in the cage for that
swing right there. I was waiting
for it to translate into a real game
... so it was nice for it to pay off
tonight.”
Marwin Gonzalez added a
solo homer to back a solid start
by Lance McCullers and give
the Astros their second straight
victory over Seattle to start the
season.
McCann’s homer off Hisashi
Iwakuma (0-1) put Houston up
1-0 in the third inning, and Gon-
zalez broke a 1-all tie with his
solo shot to left-center in the sixth
inning.
McCullers (1-0), slowed by
injuries for chunks of last sea-
son, allowed one run and fi ve
hits while fanning seven in six
innings. It was his fi rst start since
August 2 after he missed the last
two months of last year with an
elbow injury.
“I felt really good most of
the start. I felt pretty locked in,”
he said. “I thought I was work-
ing the fastball pretty good.
The curveball mix was pretty
good. I mixed in a couple chan-
geups along the way, so it was
good.”
UP NEXT: MARINERS
• Houston Astros (2-0) at
Seattle Mariners (0-2)
• Today, 5:10 p.m. TV: RTNW,
RTSW
Spieth looks to make new Masters memories
By PAUL NEWBERRY
Associated Press
AUGUSTA, Ga. — On a warm,
sunny afternoon in Amen Corner, Jor-
dan Spieth stepped up to No. 12 and
stuck it right next to the fl ag.
A year too late.
“I really could’ve used that one 12
months ago,” Spieth quipped Tues-
day, mustering a smile before heading
over the Hogan Bridge to take care of a
tap-in delivered with an Arnold Palm-
er-like fl ourish.
The Augusta National patrons
roared with laughter.
But for anyone who takes a bit
of self-deprecation during a practice
round as a sign that Spieth has gotten
over the green jacket that got away,
think again.
The sting is still there.
You can hear it in his voice.
“Certainly you don’t want to hold
stuff in,” Spieth said. “That would be
crazy.”
If not for a meltdown at the shortest
hole on the course, a mere 155 yards,
the 23-year-old would’ve been talking
Tuesday about his quest to become the
fi rst player to win the Masters three
AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
Jordan Spieth gestures on the 13th hole during a practice round for
the Masters golf tournament Tuesday in Augusta, Ga.
years in a row.
Instead, he was reminiscing again
about the biggest disappointment of
his young, fl ourishing career.
In 2016, Spieth made the turn on
the fi nal day with a commanding fi ve-
shot lead. He gave away some of that
cushion with back-to-back bogeys
at the 10th and 11th, but it was at
the par-3 12th, the devilish little hole
known as Golden Bell, that he lost the
tournament .
First, he splashed his tee shot into
Rae’s Creek. Then, from the drop
zone, he chunked another one into the
water. Just like that, he was on the way
to a quadruple-bogey 7 that ensured it
would always be one of those Masters
remembered more for how it was lost
than how it was won. (In case you’ve
forgotten, the benefi ciary of Spieth’s
collapse was England’s Danny Wil-
lett , who is the fi rst to acknowledge
“it was a strange one last year.”)
Back in December, when Spieth
returned to Augusta National for the
fi rst time since that fateful day to play
a round with friends, he was thinking
about what happened on the last day of
the Masters. When he played the 12th
on Tuesday, in front of a large gallery
but merely for practice, it was on his
mind again.
When the tournament begins, he
expects more of the same.
“It will surely be there and it has
been there,” said Spieth, wearing a
green shirt that would be a perfect
match for the jacket he hopes to don
again on Sunday. “It is one of the many
tournaments I’ve lost given a certain
performance on a hole or a stretch
of holes. It happens in this game. I
stepped up today, fi rst day back with
the crowds, and hit it to about (a foot
away), which is nice. Obviously, it’s
not the tournament.”